As well known in the art, a stability test of an on-line game server application is an important part of development of a client/server based on-line game. Automatically testing the stability and performance of a multi-user server application is part of the field of software testing.
Testing stability of a server by generating load and affecting the server is a load test in terms of software engineering and is also a stress test for observing abnormalities in the server under heavy load.
Studies are underway into using a virtual client, which functions similar to an actual client, or capturing a network packet in case of a web server and using the captured packet as a load. To test stability of the server in a network environment similar to an actual environment, studies have also looked into adding a structure for configuring virtual network circuitry in a simulation environment.
A conventional technology for collecting a packet to perform a load test and regenerating heavy load using the collected packet includes a method of generating loads using an actual game client and a method based on packet replay.
However, the method of generating load using an actual game client has a disadvantage of requiring highly trained manpower in applying an actual test because a great deal of work must be implemented through programs. Moreover, since the method based on packet replay has not the concept of actions, it is difficult to test an interactive application such as a game.
An on-line game server employs complicated logic compared with a general server application. Therefore, it is difficult to test stability of an on-line game server application using a conventional packet re-use method.